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Do you have health insurance? Millions of Americans don't. Political Science Professor Michael Zis talks about how politics, the economy, and the simple act of change all play a role in reforming the country's health care system. listen

Tell us about your research: I'm focused on the political history of American health care policy, focusing on the 1940s and 1950s as the US ramped up its investment in high-tech, hospital-centered medical care. I'm trying to understand why and how America's medical system became so expensive, such that we're battling over whether the US can afford national health insurance when every other advanced nation already has it under systems that spend half as much on medical care.

Also, in general, I'm interested in when and how a "good," like medical research, which was considered the responsibility of industry, philanthropy, and universities, transitions to becoming a public or governmental responsibility. Once a small laboratory, the National Institutes of Health is now considered America's crown jewel -- unlike anything else in the world, both in scope and impact -- and we no longer question whether the public has a responsibility to fund it it. We just do.

What's your opinion on the current health bill in congress: The bill's a tremendous step forward. It expands access to health insurance and with it, medical care, for millions of Americans who otherwise couldn't afford it. Maybe most importantly, the bill would, for the first, time create a social compact that says that as Americans, WE are going to make health care coverage for everyone a national responsibility. The importance of that can't be overstated. The bill doesn't, however, address -- in any comprehensive way -- the underlying incentives that make America's health care system so staggeringly expensive in the first place. That worries me. Yet without everyone sharing in the responsibility for our mounting medical bills, there's virtually no way to give the entities -- be it the federal government or employers -- the leverage to negotiate with insurers, hospitals, and clinics to make the American medical system more integrated, more focused on primary care, and less profiteering such that we can sustain this compact, this commitment, long term.

Free time: During the school year, I spend almost all my free time with my wife and two kids, Saul and Meyer. On Saturday nights, my wife and I will get together with friends for dinner, and sometimes cards, or go out to see a movie or hear a live band. Come summer, I'll bike, play tennis and softball, follow the Twins and White Sox, and let my hair down (what's left of it).

Favorite book: Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man

A perfect Saturday afternoon: Biking down the chain of lakes onto Cedar Lake Trail to Target Field to catch a Twins game, outdoors. One thing you always have with you: my iPod

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